On the surface it would seem that educators aren’t doing their job; this is basic scientific knowledge that should be part of any education system. The reality is more complex. The Smithsonian also reports a lack of interest in science from a large number of the young folks surveyed, with their most common reason being that it was “too hard”.

This isn’t reflective of education; this is reflective of culture.

Personally, though admittedly anecdotally, more often than not when I admit I am a scientist at some social occasion, the most common response is “oh, that sounds hard”. But, really, is knowing that the Earth goes around the sun hard? I don’t think it is. I think perhaps many people just don’t care, as the knowledge probably doesn’t benefit many people. It’s not a question often asked at dinner parties, for example.

What’s more, 20% of young people surveyed by the Smithsonian revealed their lack of interest in science was down to it being “too boring”. How does anyone easily remember something that is boring? Or something no one else in their culture cares about?

But worse than not knowing about the Earth’s orbit, according to the Daily Mail and Time Magazine, is the fact that 48% of Americans surveyed didn’t know that human beings evolved from earlier animals. This is surprising, on the surface. However, the true-or-false question in the NSF survey was, “Human beings, as we know them today, developed from earlier species of animals”. Given that Creationism vs evolution is a hot topic of debate in the US, it is not surprising that many responded “false” to this question. This reveals nothing about scientific knowledge, but more about US cultural divides.

We have a cultural problem in addition to an educational one. To be “well-cultured” in our society doesn’t mean you necessarily have even a basic knowledge of science. C P Snow said this close to 50 years ago, but it still holds true today. In the UK, it would appear that science is on the up and up – with many science programmes on the BBC, and spokespeople such as Dara Ó Briain and Jim Al-Khalili – but then again, C P Snow echoed this same sentiment 50 years ago:

The first thing, impossible to miss, is that scientists are on the up and up; they have the strength of a social force behind them.